The present invention relates to an improved lawn mower and an improved control which allows the opening of the cover of a fixed cuttings collector without danger to the operator.
Prior to the present invention, the removal of cuttings from the collector, container or bag has either subjected the operator to the flow of air and cuttings and other foreign bodies entrained in the air flow from the blade or a valved door has been provided to close the opening from the deck outlet into the bag as the bag is being removed. This valve door functioned as a check valve to ensure that there would not be any direct flow exiting the deck when the bag was removed.
Lawn mower controls have included the use of a bail to control the operation of a brake-clutch so that the blade does not rotate unless the bail is being grasped to the cross portion at the rear of the handle. In this manner the blade is stopped as the operator releases the bail to leave the rear of the handle and move into position to release and empty the cuttings from the bag. Such a system is not fool proof unless it is impossible to maintain the bail in its grasped position while the operator moves to the bag. The ingenuity of an operator can easily defeat this safety system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,862 discloses a lawn mower control having a brake control cable which is operated by the bail.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,180 discloses another brake operating cable controlled by the position of the bail.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,363,206, 4,455,811, 4,466,232, 4,466,308, 4,580,455 and 4,599,912 all disclose various types of lawn mower controls having a bail or "dead man switch" which controls the operation of the blade through a clutch, brake or other means.
These controls provide some protection at least to the extent that if the operator releases the bail to move to the bag for emptying the cuttings, the blade rotation is stopped to protect the operator from the air blast of the blade and the entrained cuttings and other particles.
Because of the wear which is always found in most cable operated mechanisms, it has been the practice of the devices of the prior art to connect the cable to its operator with a slot type of lost motion connection. In some mechanisms this has been accomplished by having a pin secured on the end of the cable and allowing the pin to ride freely in a slot in its control disc so that as the mechanism wears there is sufficient cable to render full operation of such mechanism.
These controls have not always been satisfactory as they could be bypassed by the operator by fastening the bail to the cross portion of the handle or in some cases the bail could be held by one hand while the operator's other hand is used to open the bag. This is particularly true when the cuttings container or bag is secured to the deck and has a cover which is opened to remove the cuttings.